Carlyle said there was no truer gentleman in Europe than Robert Burns, the ploughman poet. It was because he loved everything — the mouse, and the daisy, and all things, great and small, that God had made. So with this simple passport he could mingle with any society, and enter courts and palaces from his little cottage on the banks of the Ayr. ~ Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World

With this simple passport — love.

In the heart of Africa, among the great Lakes, I have come across men and women who remembered the only white man they ever saw before — David Livingstone; and as you cross his footsteps in that continent, men’s faces will light up as they speak of the kind doctor who passed there years ago. They could not understand him; but they felt the love that beat in his heart. ~ Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World

Why am I here? What is my purpose? Those questions can be asked concerning our very existence, or they can be asked as we simply enter a room. As I enter the grocery store and ask myself that question, the answer can be as simple as “I’m here to get milk.” But there’s another answer to those questions that applies no matter where we are in life, in space and in time, “I am here to love.”

One day I was at the gas station when an older woman passed out. I rushed over to her. I placed something under her head as others called 911. I prayed for her. As she came to I gently smiled at her and told her it was going to be alright. I saw her many times after that. She was going through a very difficult time in her life and each time I saw her I knew what my purpose was for being in this woman’s life. I was there to love her.

A friend invited me to join a group of people from another church, from another denomination, in a home for prayer. At first I saw no reason to go, but I felt a nudge from God that I was to attend. So I went and as I sat there in that room full of strangers I thought to myself, “Why am I here?” And the answer was the same that it always is no matter where I go, “I am here to love.”

To be quite honest, I wasn’t there to show them my impressive prayer skills. I wasn’t there to impress them with my latest revelation from God. I wasn’t there to critique their prayer skills. I wasn’t there to see what they had to offer me. I was there to love. And that was reason enough for me.

Wherever you go today, whoever you meet today, don’t forget to take your passport. Don’t forget to love while you are there.

Love is the passport that helps you enter into any society and causes His light  in you to shine wherever you go.

Ye are the light of the world… Let your light so shine before men… (Matthew 5:14,16; KJV)